Agenda
1) Using Google calendar to report hours to LITS
2) Goals of CAC and review of CAC activities
3) Review of service point analysis
4) removal of SSN from Acorn and mag stripe on the Vanderbilt ID card
Minutes
1) How to use Google calendar.
You need to have a Google account. If you do not have an account with Google, go to www.google.com, and in the upper right-hand corner, click on “Sign in.” At this screen, there is a box labeled “Don’t have a Google Account?” and in that box is a link “Create an account now.”
The purpose of the Google calendar is to report the hours that the circulation function is open and closed in a particular library, not to report the hours that the library in general is open and closed.
After you create a Google account, please indicate to Tao You the email you used to create your Google account and which library calendar you need to see. Tao has created a Google calendar for each library (Central and Divinity is combined) in her master account, and she will designate you to see in your Google account the library calendar of your choice.
To access Google calendar, go to calendar.google.com. When you have logged in, you will see a box at the left, “My calendars.” Choose the library calendar of your choice from this list. The calendar functions much like the Outlook calendar. Point the mouse at a date and time. When you create an event, you can click on the “edit event details” link. In the detailed view, you can set recurring days for the event.
Tao has created a calendar for each library and has populated the calendar for each library, to the best of her knowledge, through August, 2009. Please create your Google account and login into Google calendar in order to check the data in your calendar. Please add open and closed days. Please describe an open day as “open” and a closed day as “closed.” Please feel free to use the recurring event function as often as possible in order to make populating the calendar easier.
We will use the Google calendar option exclusively starting with the beginning of Maymester. Please see Tao you with any questions.
2) Goals of CAC. As part of a general committee review, we have been asked to review the charge, activities, and accomplishments of our committee, as well as to comment on future goals and purpose of CAC. Robert Rich reviewed our charge, and he has categorized our activities completed in the past year (thank you, Robert!). His review follows. Regarding CAC activities, members discussed whether the group best reviews operational activities or strategic initiatives. Some members were not clear on the strategic mission of the committee, or whether a strategic initiative would be well-received in the larger library structure. There may be interest in discussing future strategic plans.
Review of CAC activities, as aligned with the CAC charge
1) Identify ways to improve service
- Fines discontinued except at Central and Recalls. July 1 is the first day of the fine-free policy (except at Central and the Women’s Center).
- Faculty delivery to surrogate card holders.
- Streamlining the “recall” and “delivery” buttons from faculty.
- Faculty delivery button will be added to those items marked INTRANSIT.
- Tao did review the possibility of not charging laptop overdue fines while a library is closed, and it is not possible at this time.
- Additional locations for the deliver button: Bk-Repair Annex Cataloging Not-Avail. Also, addition of Kudzu button, and review of change in the buttons during login by faculty.
- Security Weblog instituted.
- Extensive discussions on the security guard trial.
- The laptop receipt form does not contain space for all the pieces of information needed to identify the borrower and the laptop. In order to better identify the borrower and track the laptop, the form (at http://lib1a.library.vanderbilt.edu/circdoc/forms/laptopreceipt.doc) has been updated.
2) Identify ways to improve efficiency
- New staff profile that grants faculty privileges.
- Annex materials may be returned to the Annex without first being routed to the home library.
- Review of combined overdue notices instead of receiving multiple overdue notices from different libraries. Should combined notices be instituted? CAC reviewed the combined notices and recommends that combined notices not be used. Combined overdue notices will not be implemented.
- Members wanted to keep some control on the issuance of surrogate cards and believed that control was best maintained with a paper form turned in to a circulation desk. The group did not want an online form. Members discussed and agreed to revise portions of the paper form and request more prominent placement on the Heard page and other pages. Tracy will edit the form, and submit an Inform for greater visibility on the Heard site, as well as distribute the updated form to other libraries for their consideration for addition to local web sites.
- Extensive review of faculty records in Acorn. Some were purged, some were not. Many were reviewed for currency.
- There is no need to print any library report for the purpose of saving and archiving the report. You may save paper and toner and not automatically print the daily reports. Tao prepared a list of reports received by each library so that each library may review the reports for currency. If there are any reports that should be discontinued, please notify Tao You. Tracy reviewed all the reports with financial data with Lisa Shipman. Because Acorn reports are kept on the reports server for two years, our auditing responsibilities are fulfilled. Music and Divinity have already abandoned printing reports.
- Using Google calendar to report library circulation hours.
3) Identify ways to improve consistency across the libraries
- Access cards reviewed-picture ID now required.
- New overdue notices were approved, both in language and intervals.
- Clarification on renewing access cards for faculty from other universities vs. renewing access cards for the general public.
- Fines Subcommittee (Janet, MAT, Debra) established 3 methods of tracking materials which are missing, BILLED, or withdrawn.
- CAC reviewed the DVD circulation rules developed by each library. Each library wishes to stay with its own rules as they currently exist.
- CAC reviewed the online forms that require users to supply the last 4 digits of the SSN. CAC recommends that users still be required to submit the last 4 digits of the SSN. The SSN remains the only unique identifier associated with all users. Some users do not have a VUNetID, and only have an Acorn ID (which is the SSN). Until the University institutes a separate identification system that is not dependent on the SSN, this unique identifier is needed.
- Lisa reviewed items from our last audit, so that we are all in compliance with policy and suggestions from the auditors.
- Tao created a matrix of notices. Question: Should the overdue notices for reserve materials be changed to include language about renewals? It is not understood if reserve materials can be renewed, or can be renewed online. Until this is understood, the language should remain the same.
3) Service point analysis
Sue Erickson reviewed the recent request (coming from Julie Blagojevich) to each library, where each library was asked to describe the staffing of service points. Library Council has been asked to complete a service point analysis of four peer institutions, and, as part of that analysis, there was the realization that there is no service point analysis for Vanderbilt libraries. There was some confusion about the definition of a service point, and Sue will clarify. There was also a discussion about whether or not the roving security guard constitutes a service point. Members expressed that the roving security guard may not be a service point.
4) Removal of SSN from Vanderbilt card
There is a team within MIS that is actively analyzing how to remove the SSN as the unique identifier for students and employees and how to remove the SSN from the magnetic strip on the ID card. At present, the tentative plan is that incoming freshman students will be issued cards without an SSN. Current card holders will have cards replaced in an as yet undetermined fashion. This is a positive development, but creates a series of questions on how best to be reactive and proactive to this change. For instance, for those with a Vanderbilt e-mail (e.g. a VUNetID), is a name + VUNetID sufficient to disambiguate individuals with similar names? What profiles are assigned to non-Vanderbilt users, and what is the alternative to SSN? Are there any people who are assigned a staff, faculty, or student profile who do not have a VUNetID (emeritus faculty)? What forms need to be reconsidered in order to eliminate SSN or last four-digits of SSN? Even if faculty and staff are auto-registered from the EPI, in addition to students, there may be a gap in time before the records are available. How should user registration procedures change? If there is a rolling change (freshman first, everyone else over time), how do we cope with a dual system? A team was formed (MAT, Tracy, Debra, Stacy) to develop a list of these questions, and potential answers, in order to bring back to CAC.